Automatic street-railway crossing.



H. B. COLE. AUTOMATIC STREET RMLWAY CROSSlNG.

APP LICATJON FILED AUG'. 19, 1916.

Patented July 31, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHET 2.

anuemtom 5 HENRY l5. COLE Bf COLEY1TOEIJLOS ANGEIQESQQLLIEOBNIA. i T f AUTOMATIQ STBEET+BAILWAYLJLGBOSBINQ mipeclflcation otLetteriil'atent. '1 191 7;

2 rrl ipplloation fled Aukuat 18,1916; mmune. 11M882.

- State off fCafifornimwha-ves vcizwent certuin new andruseful": Improvements ini'Antomutio Street-Railway Grossi-ngspof :Whiehuthefollowing is: m specifieation, wreferenceubeingz held to the accompanyin drawings.

' tionsilforming-t[one other: railn 10*, 10mm '10 i-Tl athewsan' This -inmmtionwreates?to'railwaywtracks and particularly tovcrossingswwhere;one: line of track erosseswanotherszline.

The. general? obj eetxzofzthis linwentionii'sato provide a railway "crossing wsoweonstructed that noise "due =tovathe =-passage "oftrains: over i the crossingviw-ill redueedmto as minimum spaced fromvlth llDisposedwparelie andull";IOfifllIdLIP and so constructedisithat z. ypracticallyxaoontinuous i: and unbrokenwmih'surface; iswprovided for a: 'carcirgoing :in eitherwzidineotion,

thus eliminating- :this It breaking :idown :and

crushing of-: 1 itherw'raila ends a ands-eliminating f t by rmeans-oih the consequent noise.

A further object is to; ,lprovide vertically movable :fiilerr members "at? they-intersection of the railswhieh-- are; automatically" raised, as a cart/approaches upomeithen.traeksmnd which fill up the spaces between i the rail moving and provide improved and very simple means fOIaShi'fting the ifiller members.

In many citiesrthirdxrails are provided for cars having. a widerxgageithan ordinary ears and another object 1 is .1 to 1 provide x means whereby the-spaces at--the intersection of these third" rai1s--may bet autometieally filled up as thercarrapproaches.

Other objects will appearin thecourse of the following description.

L' My inwentlonis illustratedviimthe; accompanying drawings; wherein, n Figure Lisa topwplan' view" of" a crossing constructed in accordaneeww'ith my; inveni Referringzwnow' articnlwrly toIuFyig. 1, it

will beaseen that ahaveniilustrated' a crossrelationtmthmns 1 nndi 12"',-131and: 1'-3P v, sections of tithe"track onw-which"thezcar is I I ed in Figsmtnndm, the onten tee members; 1'8sdanda thewzwalls held in:properwcooperative el-atio he b1ooks..21..1gltwv' -strnctionwi]lustmted,i.hav i mng m ol-lewdirectionmn v block vus illustrate thesel'fii1eri bIooks, crossing, Irproviderthe;tr1p4=membersi 24one walls are: spaced the 'wrailsr;and a hel 7 space spacing membershiifm ahle rhamete :thes sp'ziei'irg filling blockseooniing Il'fillSh faces of the :vrail 1; headset" tstflo -wasshown s; between teach of in eentwenrds. arrit vm-ovebleil Her allel mails max v I 1H s be in w anothelmdi rection, these vertically"movxb' nse ythemth m our approaches a 29 so that when the trip 24 of which is illustrator] in Fig. 2, these tri members being disposed between the at.- )accnt wall. 17 and one of the ralls and being pivoted at 25. The upper face of the trip 6 member is so formed that under normal circumstances the trip member is disposed in the path'of movement of the flange of the car wheel and the free end of the trip member is formed with a finger 26. (Jo-acting 10 with the trip member is a cam-like member 27 which is pivoted upon a bolt 28, as illustrated in. Fig. 2and which has rounded side faces 29 and 30. The rounded end of the finger 26 co-acts with the rounded surface is depressed, it will rotate the cam member 27. I

Mounted to slide upon the supporting bar 31 is an actuating rod 32 having a beveled end 33 with which the rounded face 30 of the member 27 is adapted to engage. This actuating bar 32 which constitutes a slide is provided with a plurality of wedges 34, whose inclined faces 35 are adapted to engage with the filler blocks 21 when the slide bar 32 is shifted in one direction so as to cause the raising of the blocks. When the slide bar is shifted in the other direction, however, the blocks will fall. A pivoted lid or cover plate 36 is mounted beits free end normally restln end of the member 27 an tween the rail and the adjacent wall 17 with upon the upper extending over the finger 26. When the trip 24 is raised,

this pivoted cover 36 is also-raised, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2. This pivoted cover prevents dirt from falling into the space between the walls-17 and the filler block 19. It'will be noted that each of the blocks 21 on its face adjacent the beveled end of the corresponding webs 34 is rounded,

as at 37 so as to coact with the beveled face 35. Each of the slide bars 32 intermediate its ends, is formed with an offset 38 for engagement by an'arm 39. There-are four of 4 these arms 39 braced to shift together and mounted upon a vertical pivot 40. These arms are disposed within the rectangular casing 15 and each of the four walls 16 is slotted, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 to permit movement of the arms, the ends of said arms projecting through these slots and engaging with the offset portion 38' of the corresponding slide bar.

As before remarked, it is necessary that the slide bars 32, which extend parallel to one line of track, shall be disposed at a higher level than the slide bars 32, which extend parallel to the opposite line of track, so that one set of slide bars will pass beneath the other set. Hence, it is necessary that the blocks 21,'which coact with one set of slide bars shall be longer than the blocks which coact with the other set of slide bars. In Fig. 2, one set of blocks 21 is depressed 6 and in Fig. 3 the other set of blocks 21 is 4.1 engages with shown as raised. When these blocks 21 are raised, it will be seen that they will fill. up the spaces between the ends of the track sections and provide a continuous track surface. Thus, for instance, in Fig. 1 the blocks 21 which coact with the rail sections 10, 10, 10 and 10 and 11, 11, 11 and 11 are all shown as depressed, while the blocks 21 which coact with the rail sections 12,12, 12",13, 13, 13 and 14, 14, and 14 are all shown as raised, so that a car passing in the direction of the arrow on the track A has a practically continuous rail surface to travel over. ow, if a car approaches the crossing in the direction of the arrow B, in Fig. 1, the wheel flange will automatically strike the trip 24,

adjacent the rail section 11 and the depression of this trip will cause the depression of the blocks 21 corresponding to the rail sections 12, 12 12 13, 13 13 and 14, 14', and 14 and the shifting of the slide bar 32 actuated by the trip 24 for the section 11 shifts the arms 39 so as to shift the transversely extending slide bars 32 and cause the raising of the filling blocks coacting with the track sections 10, 10", 10 and 10 and 11, 11, 11 and 11.

For the purpose of actuating the filler blocks 21 which are adapted to connect the track sections 11", 11 and 10*, 10, I provide a lever 41 pivoted at 42, one end of which 1s engaged by an offset 43 on the slide bar 32 which extends parallel to the rail sections 13, 13 and 13. The other end of this lever an offset 44 mounted upon the slide bar 32 which extends parallel to the rail sections 14, 14 and 14 and raises the filling blocks 21 which are designed to fill .up the spaces between'the. sections 11 11, 10 and 10 or permits them to fall.

The operation of my invention will be evident from what has gone before. When a car approaches in the direction of the arrow on track B, it approaches the proper trip so that all of the filler blocks 21 which are designed to provide a continuous track for the car, in the direction of the arrow B, will be raised and the remainder of the filler blocks lowered. On the other hand, when the car approaches in the direction of the arrow A, the filler blocks between the sections 12, 12, 12,, 13, 13, 13 and 14, 14 and 14 will be raised,'while the remainder of the filler blocks are lowered. In Fig. 1, I have not illustrated the spacing members 18 or any means for housing the sliding bars 32, as this would tend to confuse the illustration. These members 18, however, are fully illustrated in Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5. While I have illustrated a construction which is particularly practical and which may be relatively cheaply made of standard materials, I wish it understood that various modifications might be made in the details of constructions, without departing from the a so V scope of the modified as illustrated in Fig. 6-

i each other by bolts 46. I regard the conarms" each engaged with one o a section of the tracks of the rails,

struction illustrated in Fig. 6 as preferable as there is no danger of the wedges becoming detached and it is more cheaply made.

Having thus described this invention, what is claimed is 2- 1. In a street railway crossing, intersecting rails, two sets of vertically movable filler blocks disposed at the intersection of the rails, slide bars extending parallel to each rail, and having wedging members mounted thereon engageable Wltll the respective filler blocks, a rotatable member having radiating bars, and car wheeloperated means disposed between one rail of each line of track and operatively connected to one of said slide bars for shifting the connected slide bar, shifting said rotatable member, and operating the remainder of the slide bars.

. 2. In a street railway crossing, two lines of track extending at right angles to each other, each line having rail sections disposed in spaced relation to each other, at the interwalls extendingl parallel to each of said track sections, ller blocks mounted between each of said walls and the adjacent track section, there being two sets of filler blocks, one for each line of rails, slide bars extending parallel to eachrail and having wedging members carriedv thereby and jengageable with the filler blocks, a rotatable four-armed member disposed between the two linesof track, each arm being engaged with one of said slide bars, and car-operated means disposed adjacent to a rail of each line of track and operatively en aged with a corresponding slide bar toshiftthe slide bar and thereby shift the rotatable member to cause a movement of one set of slide bars to a retracted position, thereby permitting the depression of the corresponding filler blocks and move the other set of slide bars to a projected position, to thereby cause the projection of the corresponding filler blocks.

3. In a street railway, crossing, two lines of track extending at right angles to each other, each line iaving rail sections disposed in spaced relation to each other, at

co uof tna ate'nt my be obtained in:

In this figure the slide .atively connecting the last a trip five cents each, addressing the Washington, I). 0.

the intersection of the tracks ofthe rails walls extending parallel to each of sai track sections, filler blocks mounted between each of said walls and the adjacent track section,

one for each line of rails, slide bars extending parallel to each rail and having wedging members carried thereby and enblocks, a' rotatable gageable with the filler four-armed member disposed between the there being two sets of filler blocks, f

two lines of track, each arm being engaged I with one of said slide bars, carroperated means disposed adjacent to a rail of each line of track and operatively en aged with a corresponding slide bar to shi t the slide bar and thereby shift the rotatable member to cause a movement of one set of slide bars to a retracted position, and thereby permit the depression ofthe corresponding filler blocks and move the'other set of slide bars to a projected position to thereby cause the projection of the corresponding filler blocks, a third rail extending parallel to one of said pairs of rails and formed in sections, filler blocks disposed at the ends of and parallel to said sections, a slide bar having wedges engaging said filler blocks when the 'lide baris moved in one direction, to thereby raise the filler blocks, and a lever opernamed slide bar with the next adjacent parallel slide vbar of the next adjacent parallel ,rail.-

' 4. Ina street railway crossing, a plurality of rail sections spaced from each other, walls extending parallel to but spaced from the rail sections, vertically movable filler blocks disposed between the ends of the rail sections and said walls, a longitudinally movable slide bar operatively supported beneath the filler blocks and carrying wedges engageable with the filler blocks to raisethem when the slide bar is moved in one direction,

said rail sections, and depressible by engagement with the flange of a car wheel, a pivotally mounted member having rounded faces, and disposed in avvertical plane, one of the rounded faces engaging with the adjacent end of the correspondingslide bar, the other being adapted to be engaged by the extremity of the depressible trip memher, and a pivoted cover disposed above the slide bar and normallyresting upon the pivoted member and having its extremity projecting over the trip member. a

In. testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. I HENRY B. COLE. Witnesses: l

G. E. GARDNER, G. L. .Wmsma.

member pivoted at the side of one of 

